Macclesfield Town 1 Rotherham United 2

Last updated : 25 October 2008 By Footymad Previewer
Rotherham climbed out of the bottom three for the first time this season courtesy of a classic smash-and-grab act at struggling Macclesfield.

The Millers grabbed an early goal and a late goal but created precious little in between as the home side wasted a succession of chances.

Mark Robins' men made a dream start on five minutes when Mark Burchill laid a perfect pass into the path of overlapping right-back Dale Tonge, who thundered home a fierce 15-yard drive from a narrow angle.

Macclesfield should have equalised on 17 minutes but from a narrow angle veteran marksman Simon Yeo lashed a simple chance off the top of the crossbar.

Yeo went close two minutes later when he forced a magnificent save from Andy Warrington with a 20-yard piledriver.

Macclesfield nearly equalised on the stroke of half-time but a looping header from Terry Dunfield floated past the far post.

The home side were again dominant in the second half and Martin Gritton missed their best chance when he glanced a free header from a pinpoint Izak Reid cross past the far post.

Rotherham looked to have sealed the game in injury time when Ian Sharps sent a looping header goalbound for it to be nodded in on the goal-line by Andrew Nicholas.

Macclesfield grabbed a consolation when Francis Green produced a stunning scissor-kick but, as James Jennings tried to grab the ball from Sharps for a quick restart, they clashed and both earned red cards for their second bookings.